Winter carboot fairs are not terribly inspiring

There is very little in the way of vintage to be had. So why do I go? Well, you just never know, do you? Amongst the many piles of clothes, toys, modern china etc, there might just be a teeny weeny little something that takes my fancy. And the habit is just so hard to break.

So yesterday morning my long suffering hubby and I set off to have a look at the one and only indoor boot fair in the area. The weather was pretty bad, it had snowed, it was grey and overcast and people had obviously preferred to stay at home, in bed, or in front of a lovely warm fire, lol. The hall was only half full. We wombled about, picked up a thing or two, went to the exit, and out into............ a snow storm! Ooops. The weather had changed so dramatically in just the half hour we had been inside. Thankfully we didnt have a long drive. Oh, I do love cars with heated seats.

Do you know what? I just realised that the photos I took today are from the boot fair and jumble sale LAST weekend, lol. I haven't unpacked the bag from yesterday. Not that there is much to unpack. Ouch, old age is not much fun, rofl. Guess I'll have to do yesterday's tomorrow then.

So, here are the pics from last weekend, sigh -

60s/70s is not really my thing, but this small purple bowl is such a luscious, rich colour, I had to have it -


Modern as well, but I do love these silver plated star shaped boxes. They just need a good polish -

What a great American pack of cards! Well, the game itself it quite ordinary, but I love the back of the cards, the graphics are so funny -


A sweet little jug, a girl can never have too many little jugs/pitchers -


Oh look, lol, another little pitcher, this time an Ironstone one -


And talking of Ironstone, I also found this really pretty brown transferware Ironstone plate -


A few bits of jewellery. The pink heart necklace is a modern one, from Avon, but the rose quartz heart is so pretty, I want to use it in a fabric collage -


Pretty little rosary though -


The colour of this little vase made me go WOW! Isn't it just so pretty? -


A Sylvac vase -


A gorgeous little dressing table tray, for your rings, or change, any little bits and pieces really. They also make lovely little pen trays for your desk -


I adore this little glass jar with the silver lid, which is just crying out to be gently embellished, don't you think?


As I said before, yesterday's will (probably) show up tomorrow, lol. Until then, toodlepip xxx

Two things - Michelle Palmer and Sunday's boot fair

I am sure most of you know Michelle Palmer, she creates THE sweetest, most gorgeous drawings on fabric, and I have admired them for a very long time. When she started her Christmas drawings, I couldn't resist any longer, I had a real good excuse for going ahead and ordering some of her delightful drawings. I wanted to use them on little stockings for my two granddaughters and one other little darling girl dear to my heart. So I emailed Michelle and asked her whether she would create 3 little drawings for me, all similar but with little differences to they could tell them apart.

They arrived yesterday, and I am absolutely thrilled to bits with them. They are whimsical, delightful, the sweetest little drawings and I am so looking forward to making three stockings with them. I am going to use some of my antique French hand loomed linen to make the stockings with. Have a look for yourselves, aren't they the cutest?



They arrived with a lovely letter from Michelle ( you have no idea how I envy her handwriting, it is beautiful ) and three of the sweetest smelling little tags -


And now to Sunday's Indoor boot fair, the one and only winter boot fair in our area. As I said in the last post, it wasn't a complete waste of time, I did find a few pretty little treasures amongst the 99.9% modern tat, baby toys, clothes, cds and books. Where is all the lovely old junk gone?


The glass flowers I really do like an awful lot, I think they are charming -

Poils, well, a girl can never go wrong with poils, can she? Especially when they are beautifully shiny shimmery faultless poils -

Tin, I really needed another tin like I needed a hole in the head, but when it is this pretty, how can one resist?

This brooch with millions of dangly bits took my fancy, mostly because of the lovely crystals at the ends of the danglies

Little jugs/pitchers are irresistible, this one is dainty and so sweetly decorated

And I found another piece of Carnival glass. I am not normally I big fan of orange, but the orange Carnival glass shimmers so beautifully with those oil slick colours, and that I adore

And then there was that box. A smallish box, barely open, by the side of a table. I cannot pass closed boxes without having a look inside, lol. Ever. When I folded the top back properly, I saw linens, what looked like doilies, table runners etc. I asked her to give me a price for the whole box, as I really didn't feel like taking everything out, and having vultures ( other lovely ladies wanting a piece of the action ) trying to get at the best bits, lol, while I was still rooting through the box. That does happen, you know! They pull the bits out of your hands if you aren't careful. Anyways, I got the box full of stuff, took it home and then started taking out the bits one by one.
There were damask serviettes, doilies, table runners, odd bits and pieces, and some stunning tablecloths. Yep, beautiful whitework embroidery, gorgeous deep crochet lace trims, it was such a pleasure unpacking this little box. Here goes, have a look -


Two dinky little pillow cases, probably for a child's bed, so so pretty-


Some colourful 1950s embroideries on tablecloths, tea cosies ( outers only )


and this darling nightdress case. Know anybody with those initials? What a pretty Christmas present that would make for a vintage lover

Another tablecloth with beautiful whitework embroidery

And look at these gorgeous crochet borders, aren't they fabulous?


And now I am off to make something else from the Romantic White Christmas workshop.

Toodlepip xxx

Tesco to the Rescue!

Sunday didn't start too well. We set off for what we think was supposed to be the last regular boot fair for the year, but alas, it was cancelled. It was a gloriously sunny morning, but it had rained the day before and the field was too wet. Wimps, lol. As if a little bit of mud mattered. So we turned round, went home, and had a cup of tea and another look at the paper. And there it was, a little ad saying that there was going to be an afternoon boot sale in the Tesco's car park. Hurrah, maybe the day wouldn't be a complete loss ( boot fair wise that is ). I had only been once to a boot fair there, they are not on regularly, and I wasn't all that impressed with it. Still, anything is better than nothing to a confirmed car boot enthusiast, lol.

My goodness, it was heaving! It had started somewhat earlier than advertised, and because all other boot fairs in the county seemed to have been cancelled due to the weather, it was packed! Great news, of course. It was mostly what I had expected to see, lots of modern stuff like toys, clothes, general modern family stuff, but at least there were a few stalls with older bits and pieces, and I managed to find a couple of sweet things. Nothing that I was really coveting, like lace or buttons unfortunately. But here we go, I'll just show you.

This was the first thing I bought, a really lovely old Maling ware soap dish. I haven't seen this combination before, with the two bowls, I can only think that the smaller bowl was for the soap and the larger one for a flannel perhaps. If anybody knows, please do tell me -


Next was a stall with lots of bling bling. I spent ages there, because the lovely old coot who's stall it was, was sooooooooooo slow taking things out of his little boxes to put them on the table, and he wouldn't let anybody near the box in his hands, lol. I picked up a few bits and pieces, some of them missing a couple of stones, but that doesn't matter too much. I have badly broken bits which I use to repair other pieces with. I picked up three beautiful old medals as well -


I probably spent even more time at another stall, because the stallholder had THREE shoe boxes full of postcards! Most of them were very recent ones, but I did find a couple of cabinet cards and a bunch of lovely old postcards, mostly from 1910/1920s -


The next one really surprised me because it is a French piece, and the last time I was in France I picked up a very similar pen rest and inkwell set, but with the Louvre in the middle. This one has the Sacre Coeur as the centrepiece -


My next find made me smile. It was the perfect colour for the kitchen in France ( light green ), and metal! I hate the plastic ones. What am I talking about? Dustpan and brush set, of course.
This one has a smiley face, isn't it just so cute -


I went back to the first row again, to have another look at the bling bling stall, but there wasn't anything which took my fancy. However, next to that stall was the stall I bought the Maling set from, and I noticed that the soup tureen which I had admired earlier was still on the table. That was it, it was obviously meant for me after all. It had sweet little rose decorations, how could I resist that? It even has a little rose decoration in the bottom of the bowl. Condition was really good as well, and when I turned it over, I saw that it was Wedgewood! Needless to say, I snapped it up and brought it home. Another lovely piece for France.


Bit of an eclectic collection of boot fair goodies, lol, I know.

I also went to a jumble sale on Saturday. There is a good reason why I don't go very often. These sales are the hunting grounds of young mothers with pushchairs, and old ladies with shopping trolleys, in VERY confined spaces. And they develop killer instincts when they are at a jumble sale. They push and shove and elbow you as if their lives depended on it, and getting to a table is nigh on impossible, lol. I only picked up a couple of bits and then beat a very hasty retreat to safer ground outside.

A silver plated tankard, very heavily tarnished, but it had the sweetest engravings, not sure you can see them properly -

Silver plated and monogrammed soup spoons -

A sweet little dressing table ring tray with rose decoration -

This is a bit kitschy, but it appealed to me somehow -

A very old dictionary with beautifully aged pages -

And an autograph album. No autographs in it, but the pages are beautiful, gilt edged and the prettiest pastel colours, pink, blue, yellow and beige. They'll be lovely to use in collages etc -


That's all, folks. And now I am going back to crafting for a little bit. Toodlepip, xxx